[UPDATED Aug 28th:
Agency spokesman Marc Vidricaire, though, issued a brief statement on the matter: "Regrettably, time and again unidentified sources feed the media and Member States with misinformation or misinterpretation," Vidricaire said. "This time around, there are articles claiming that the Secretariat is hiding information, and that there are sharp disagreements among staff members involved about the contents of the report. Needless to say, such allegations have no basis in fact." ]
So according to Haarez, the Israelis (or, more precisely, anonymous "senior Western diplomats and Israeli officials ") claim that the IAEA under ElBaradei has been censoring its reports on Iran's nuclear program, by "refraining from publishing evidence obtained by its inspectors over the past few months that indicate Iran was pursuing information about weaponization efforts and a military nuclear program."
The article goes on to say:
Throughout his term, Israel has accused ElBaradei of not tackling the Iranian nuclear issue with sufficient determination. As the end of his term in December nears, Israeli diplomats are concerned that he will become less responsive and continue to hide the classified report.
Well, there's much more to it than that! The Israelis openly accused ElBaradei of being "pro-Iranian", the US resorted to spying on ElBaradei and even tapped his phone in order to find dirt on him, and Powell demanded that ElBaradei quit his post as the head of the IAEA. Why? All because...
Inspectors from the IAEA did not find any definitive evidence of weapons-specific work in Iran. ... That conclusion made it impossible for the United States to convince the IAEA board of governors to refer the issue to the U.N. Security Council....Bolton wants ElBaradei out, officials say, and a more compliant director general appointed. Bolton directed a similar operation in 2002 that forced Jose Bustani to resign as head of the organization that oversees implementation of the Chemical Weapons Treaty.
Nevertheless, according to Haaretz, Jerusalem is hoping that Amano, the new head of the IAEA (the "pro-Western" candidate who was backed by the US in a contentious election process at the IAEA) will be more of a puppet than ElBaradei. Amano may to be that in the future, but to date, this is what Amano has had to say about allegations that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons:
"I don't see any evidence in IAEA official documents about this," Yukiya Amano told Reuters in his first direct comment on Iran's atomic program since his election, when asked whether he believed Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons capability.
So,will something be cooked up in the next few month in the "non-official" documents? I assume so. Will it constitute real "evidence" or another Nukie the Nuclear Spaghetti Monster --- that remains to be seen.
Comments